Saturday, September 24, 2011

Playdough, lasts two months


This is great for nursery, that is what I made it for.

1 c. flour
1 c. water with food color
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tarter

Stir and cook on medium until like mashed potatoes and it sticks together in a big ball. Take off the heat and put on parchment paper and knead by hand a couple minutes. Keeps aproximately 2 months.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Ceasar Salad with homemade dressing (Jeff Turley's recipe)

2 hard boiled eggs
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice (1 lemon)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 garlic clove
pepper
dash of nutmeg

2 heads romaine lettuce, cut to eating size

parmesan cheese
croutons

Blend eggs, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, dijon, garlic, pepper and nutmeg in a blender. Stir into romaine lettuce. Grate parmesan cheese on top and add croutons.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Zucchini Pasta

3 medium zucchinis
2-3 oz. linguine
1-2 chicken breasts
2 Tbsp. Fresh Basil or 2 tsp. Dried Basil
1/4 cup. Shredded Parmesan 
1/4 Mozzarella

When determining how much linguine to cook - do about 1/3 of what you would normally cook for a pasta dish. This meal replaces a large portion of your carbs with zucchini, and it's even more delicious! Boil the linguine for about 7-8 minutes so it's still a little firm. 

Cube your chicken in small bite size pieces. Cook on medium-high heat in a large saute pan. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Once chicken is fully cooked, remove from pan. 

Chop up your zucchini in very fine strips (as shown above). Put them in the same pan used to cook the chicken, and drizzle a tablespoon or two of olive oil on zucchini. Cook on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes until they're starting to bend - but not too soggy and flimsy, you still want a little bit of a crunch.     

Add the chicken back into the pan. Add the basil. Then add the linguine and cheese. Combine the ingredients, heat through, and serve!

We love this recipe. It is so good! Go ahead and put more zucchini if you want, I put 5-6 zucchinis.
Recipe from beck-a-boo blog

Monday, September 12, 2011

White cheese sauce (for anything or for mac and cheese)

Heat 1 qt of milk
In another pan heat 6 TB butter. Add 1/2 cup flour. Cook together for about 2 minutes while whisking.
Slowly add the hot milk.
Add TB salt.
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)
12 oz gruyere, shredded
8 oz good cheddar, shredded

Add cheese to sauce. Combine with 1 lb macaroni for mac and cheese.
optional: put in dish and add sliced tomatoes and bread crumbs to top. Bake at 375 for 30 min.

Tomato Sauce from Alton Brown









































TOTAL TIME: 2 hr 55 min
prep: 25 min
cook: 2 hr 30 min

Ingredients
20 roma tomatoes, halved and seeded (I didn't seed as you can see by the pictures)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 cup finely diced onion
2 tsp minced garlic
1 TB finely chopped oregano leaves
1 TB finely chopped thyme leaves
1 cup white wine (or substitute like water, vege broth. See LINK)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In 2 (13 by 9-inch) pans place tomato halves cut side up. Sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper, onion, garlic, and herbs. Bake tomatoes for 2 hours. Check the tomatoes after 1 hour and turn down the heat if they seem to be cooking too quickly. Then turn the oven to 400 degrees and bake another 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and process tomatoes through a food mill (or food processor) on medium dye setting over a small saucepan. Discard skins. Add white wine, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes

Friday, September 9, 2011

Green Smoothie from smoothie girl

1 1/2 cups coconut liquid
1 larg carrot, cleaned and cut into 3 pieces
1/4 medium beet, raw, peeled
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup chopped dates
2 tsp vanilla
12 frozen strawberries
flax seed
2 TB kefir or yogurt

puree all ingredients except strawberries and flax in a high power blender for 90 seconds. Add strawberries and puree on high until smooth. Add the flax for the last 5 seconds.
Add spinach or other greens if you like.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Zucchini Bread - my favorite recipe


Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3-4 cups grated zucchini (no need to peel or drain)


Directions

  1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
  2. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
  3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Add Zucchini and mix well. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  4. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan.